Sensitive near point-of-care detection of asymptomatic and submicroscopic Plasmodium falciparum infections in African endemic countries

Dimbintsoa Rakotomalala Robinson, Ivana Pennisi, Matthew L. Cavuto, Francois Kiemde, Martin Chamai, Diane Yirgnur Some, Elliot Quigley, Kenny Malpartida-Cardenas, Mamadou O. Ndiath, Simon Correa, Bubacarr Darboe, Lindsay B. Stewart, Pantelis Georgiou, Mamadu Baldeh, Halidou Tinto, Aubrey J. Cunnington, Annette Erhart, Umberto D’Alessandro and Jesus Rodriguez-Manzano ()
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Dimbintsoa Rakotomalala Robinson: MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Ivana Pennisi: Imperial College London
Matthew L. Cavuto: Imperial College London
Francois Kiemde: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro
Martin Chamai: University of Ghana
Diane Yirgnur Some: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro
Elliot Quigley: Imperial College London
Kenny Malpartida-Cardenas: Imperial College London
Mamadou O. Ndiath: MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Simon Correa: MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Bubacarr Darboe: MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Lindsay B. Stewart: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Pantelis Georgiou: Imperial College London
Mamadu Baldeh: MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Halidou Tinto: Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro
Aubrey J. Cunnington: Imperial College London
Annette Erhart: MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Umberto D’Alessandro: MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Jesus Rodriguez-Manzano: Imperial College London

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Limited diagnostic capacity for detecting asymptomatic malaria infections with low parasite densities hinders elimination efforts in Africa. Here, we adapt a near point-of-care, LAMP-based diagnostic platform for malaria diagnosis using capillary blood. This Pan/Pf detection method meets the Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA) criteria for community-level screening, with a limit of detection of 0.6 parasites/μL and a sample-to-result time under 45 minutes. We evaluate its performance on 672 capillary blood samples collected at the community level in The Gambia and Burkina Faso, including 146 Plasmodium falciparum positives confirmed by qPCR. The diagnostic platform achieved 95.2% sensitivity (95% CI: 90.4–98.1) and 96.8% specificity (95% CI: 94.9–98.0). It also detected 94.9% (130/137) of asymptomatic infections and 95.3% (41/43) of submicroscopic cases (

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64027-4

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